Beaten Up and Under Paid

Over the last decade, the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Champion) has been the fastest developing sport in the United States. Many long time wrestling fans have become wrapped up in this fighting for many unique reasons. First off, unlike most wrestling, the UFC is real. Wrestling brands such as the WWE, and TNA do not feature real wrestling, and this has forced many of there fans away and brought them to the UFC. Secondly, the UFC does not take place on a common basis, twelve to fifteen UFC fight nights take place a year, and the average fight night consists of roughly five to seven fights. These fights are on paper view, and cost about forty dollars to purchase for the one night of entertainment. Lastly, this sport is appealing because of its fierece and unique competetiors. There are seven different WWE weight classes, and wrestlers range from small and quick, to large and powerful. This variety creates for great entertainment.

While the UFC has skyrocketed in terms of numbers, the salaries of its athleates has not. While the top fighters make between five hundered thousand dollars, and a million dollars per fight, the lesser fighters only make around one hundered and twenty five thousand dollars per fight. While one hundered thousand dollars sounds like a phenominal pay day, when you break it down it is an incredibly small sallery. First off, Fighters only fight one to two times a year, meaning they only get payed once or twice a year. Secondly, training for these fights is incredibly expensive, and many athleates pay high prices for elite trainers, the best nutrition, and the best doctors to repair the injuries they suffer in the ring. Thirdly, the careers of fighters are not long, leaving many fighters without a job by the age of thirty five. Lastly, every fight could be a fighters last. The risk of injury is incredibly high in the sport, and fighters risk there profession every time they enter the ring.
While athletes are undoubtably under payed, the pure salary they recieve is not what they have been left complaining about. The amount of money the UFC makes a year has not been publically released, however the percent of money the goes to the athleates has, and it is incredibly low. A recent statistic states that athletes in the UFC only collect about 9% of the income for the company each year. This does not compare with the other major sports, in which athleates collect between fourty five and seventy percent of the money that the leauge collects. This desparity in money has left athletes frustrated, and poor, raising the question, is it worth sacrificing your body for what could become little to no money?